{"id":30526,"date":"2023-08-22T08:33:12","date_gmt":"2023-08-22T12:33:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/?p=30526"},"modified":"2023-08-22T08:33:13","modified_gmt":"2023-08-22T12:33:13","slug":"review-duke-seeks-bride-by-christy-carlyle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/2023\/08\/22\/review-duke-seeks-bride-by-christy-carlyle\/","title":{"rendered":"Review \u2764\ufe0f Duke Seeks Bride by Christy Carlyle"},"content":{"rendered":"<!--themify_builder_content-->\n<div id=\"themify_builder_content-30526\" data-postid=\"30526\" class=\"themify_builder_content themify_builder_content-30526 themify_builder tf_clear\">\n    \t\t\t<!-- module_row -->\n\t<div  data-lazy=\"1\" class=\"module_row themify_builder_row tb_0clr378 tb_first tf_w tf_clearfix\">\n\t    \t\t\t<div class=\"row_inner col_align_top gutter-narrow tb_col_count_2 tf_box tf_rel\">\n\t\t            <div  data-lazy=\"1\" class=\"module_column tb-column col3-1 tb_bp90378 first\">\n                                                        <div class=\"tb-column-inner tf_box tf_w\">\n                        <!-- module image -->\n<div  class=\"module module-image tb_yx59378 rounded drop-shadow customBorderRad_top image-center auto_fullwidth tf_mw\" data-lazy=\"1\">\n        <div class=\"image-wrap tf_rel tf_mw\">\n\t\t    <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"315\" height=\"500\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/duke-seeks-bride-christy-carlyle.jpg?resize=315%2C500&#038;ssl=1\" class=\"wp-post-image wp-image-30527\" title=\"duke-seeks-bride-christy-carlyle\" alt=\"duke-seeks-bride-christy-carlyle\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/duke-seeks-bride-christy-carlyle.jpg?w=315&amp;ssl=1 315w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/duke-seeks-bride-christy-carlyle.jpg?resize=189%2C300&amp;ssl=1 189w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 315px) 100vw, 315px\" \/>\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<!-- \/image-wrap -->\n    \n    \t<\/div>\n<!-- \/module image --><!-- module text -->\n<div  class=\"module module-text tb_ir8c378 customBorderRad_bottom repeat \" data-lazy=\"1\">\n        <div  class=\"tb_text_wrap\">\n    <p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">Miss Evelyn Graves has never had a holiday. She is much too busy as the personal secretary to the Countess of Waverly. But the Duke of Ballymore Castle in Connemara, Ireland, has invited the countess to visit\u2014and as the countess cannot travel, she has insisted Evelyn go in her stead. Except when Evie arrives, everyone mistakes her for the countess\u2014and it\u2019s clear the family who owns crumbling Ballymore were hoping to match the widowed countess with Alexander Pierpont, Duke of Rennick. Though Alex knows the truth of Evie\u2019s identity, he has an unusual request. He\u2019ll happily show her hospitality if she\u2019ll agree to let others think she\u2019s the countess during her visit.<\/span><\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">There\u2019s just one problem: as time runs out on their arrangement and Alex increasingly fears he must in fact marry an heiress to save his family\u2019s fortunes, he finds that his heart now belongs to Miss Evie Graves\u2026and he can\u2019t bring himself to let her go.<\/span><\/p>    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<!-- \/module text -->                    <\/div>\n                            <\/div>\n                        <div  data-lazy=\"1\" class=\"module_column tb-column col3-2 tb_vanf378 last\">\n                                                        <div class=\"tb-column-inner tf_box tf_w\">\n                        <!-- module text -->\n<div  class=\"module module-text tb_ug3w378  repeat \" data-lazy=\"1\">\n        <div  class=\"tb_text_wrap\">\n    <p><strong>Release Date:<\/strong> Apr 22, 2023<br \/><strong>Series:<\/strong>\u00a0<em>Love on Holiday<br \/><\/em><strong>Book:\u00a0<\/strong>3<br \/><strong>Heat Level:<\/strong> Sensual<br \/><strong>Publisher:<\/strong>\u00a0HarperCollins<br \/><strong>Imprint:<\/strong>\u00a0Avon<br \/><strong>Price:<\/strong> $6.99<\/p><hr \/><p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Dueling Reviews<\/strong><\/p><p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-25879 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/smitten-top-pick-banner-1-2.png?resize=296%2C72&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"296\" height=\"72\" \/><\/p><p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\"><strong>Tropes:<\/strong> \u00a0<em>Road Trip, Forced Proximity, Class Difference, Working Heroine<\/em><\/p><p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\"><strong>Miss Evelyn Graves<\/strong> works as personal secretary to the Countess of Waverly. \u00a0She is sent in her employer&#8217;s stead to Ballymore Castle in Connemara, Ireland, believing that she would be assisting with planning a fundraiser for an equestrian society. \u00a0But little does Evie know that the aunt of her host &#8211; <strong>Alexander Pierpont, Duke of Rennick<\/strong> &#8211; is scheming to marry Alex to the countess!<\/p><p>This is the third book in the <em>Love on Holiday<\/em> series. It stands alone and is only connected to the others by theme. \u00a0Just like the previous stories, this book was low angst with warm-fuzzy feels. \u00a0These characters met by chance once before, so there is already an attraction between them. \u00a0The previous Duke&#8217;s will states that Alex must marry in a certain time period, otherwise his mother&#8217;s unentailed family property will pass to his uncle. \u00a0His pushy (but not mean-spirited) aunt is not happy to receive Evie instead of her employer, but Alex&#8217;s siblings join in the family mix and can see Evie and Alex&#8217;s connection. \u00a0<\/p><p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\">I&#8217;ve found this entire series to be so enjoyable&#8230;perfect for beach reading or curling up on a lazy day.\u00a0 This book would be great for fans of<strong> Julia Quinn, Cathy Maxwell,<\/strong> and <strong>Charis Michaels<\/strong>.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>~ Leslie<\/em><\/p><p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-16466 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/3-hearts-1.jpg?resize=135%2C44&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"135\" height=\"44\" \/><\/p><blockquote><p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\"><em>\u201cThe memory of the man she\u2019d met in the garden and her experience with the one who\u2019d locked her in his study with him were so incongruent that she still couldn\u2019t merge them in her mind. The two versions of the duke were like mismatched puzzle pieces. Or perhaps she was just too weary to put all the aspects of the distractingly handsome man together in her mind.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote><p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\"><strong>Miss Evelyn Graves<\/strong> works as a personal secretary for the Countess of Waverley. She is sent to Ireland to assist the <strong>Duke of Rennick<\/strong> with a charity function in place of the countess, but what she doesn\u2019t know is that his scheming aunt is planning on matchmaking the countess and <strong>Alexander<\/strong>. Everyone is shocked when Evelyn shows up in her place, especially Alexander, after they had a chance meeting months ago that he can\u2019t stop thinking about.<\/p><p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\"><strong>Christy Carlyle\u2019s<\/strong> <em>Love on Holiday<\/em> series is extremely low angst, and I think when I read this that maybe I wasn\u2019t in the mood for it. If something is low angst, there isn\u2019t much to push the plot forward, and that can make the story drag on and on. This did just that. She tried to add some plot devices like Alexander\u2019s money issues and a scheming uncle, but neither was developed enough to frankly contribute anything to the story. They felt more like an afterthought. I also think there wasn\u2019t much truly keeping Alexander and Evelyn from being together by the end. I expected more internal conflict from Alexander about his money struggles and her being a poor secretary, and how his home was at risk due to his lack of funds. I expected to see him fighting his desire for her much more than he did.<\/p><p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\">At the end, they decide that love is more important than anything else, but I struggled with that since it left me with more questions than answers. Even the epilogue left much to be desired. Overall, this one felt slower and less romantic than the first two books in the series.<\/p><p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\">If you\u2019re a fan of low-angst historical romance writers like <strong>Anna Bennett<\/strong> and<strong> Erica Ridley<\/strong> then this series may be for you.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>~ Michelle<\/em><\/p>    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<!-- \/module text --><!-- module text -->\n<div  class=\"module module-text tb_1vzx378 customBorderRad repeat \" data-lazy=\"1\">\n        <div  class=\"tb_text_wrap\">\n    <p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><span class=\"s1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YNbkmk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a><\/span><span class=\"s2\">\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/apple.co\/45F2kBY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"s3\">iBooks<\/span><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.barnesandnoble.com\/w\/duke-seeks-bride-christy-carlyle\/1142722398?ean=9780063054516\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"s3\">B&amp;N<\/span><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kobo.com\/us\/en\/ebook\/duke-seeks-bride\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"s3\">Kobo<\/span><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/books\/details\/Christy_Carlyle_Duke_Seeks_Bride?id=gyudEAAAQBAJ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"s3\">Google Play<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<!-- \/module text -->                    <\/div>\n                            <\/div>\n            \t    <\/div>\n\t    <!-- \/row_inner -->\n\t<\/div>\n\t<!-- \/module_row -->\n\t<\/div>\n<!--\/themify_builder_content-->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Miss Evelyn Graves has never had a holiday. She is much too busy as the personal secretary to the Countess of Waverly. But the Duke [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30527,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[79,106,113,122],"tags":[152,546,305,307,405,406],"class_list":["post-30526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avon-books","category-harpercollins","category-leslie","category-michelle","tag-4-stars","tag-dueling-reviews","tag-historical-romance","tag-historicals","tag-recommended-reads","tag-regency"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Review \u2764\ufe0f Duke Seeks Bride by Christy Carlyle - Smitten by Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/2023\/08\/22\/review-duke-seeks-bride-by-christy-carlyle\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Review \u2764\ufe0f Duke Seeks Bride by Christy Carlyle - Smitten by Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Miss Evelyn Graves has never had a holiday. 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She is much too busy as the personal secretary to the Countess of Waverly. But the Duke of Ballymore Castle in Connemara, Ireland, has invited the countess to visit\u2014and as the countess cannot travel, she has insisted Evelyn go in her stead. Except when Evie arrives, everyone mistakes her for the countess\u2014and it\u2019s clear the family who owns crumbling Ballymore were hoping to match the widowed countess with Alexander Pierpont, Duke of Rennick. Though Alex knows the truth of Evie\u2019s identity, he has an unusual request. He\u2019ll happily show her hospitality if she\u2019ll agree to let others think she\u2019s the countess during her visit.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">There\u2019s just one problem: as time runs out on their arrangement and Alex increasingly fears he must in fact marry an heiress to save his family\u2019s fortunes, he finds that his heart now belongs to Miss Evie Graves\u2026and he can\u2019t bring himself to let her go.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Release Date:<\/strong> Apr 22, 2023<br \/><strong>Series:<\/strong>\u00a0<em>Love on Holiday<br \/><\/em><strong>Book:\u00a0<\/strong>3<br \/><strong>Heat Level:<\/strong> Sensual<br \/><strong>Publisher:<\/strong>\u00a0HarperCollins<br \/><strong>Imprint:<\/strong>\u00a0Avon<br \/><strong>Price:<\/strong> $6.99<\/p><hr \/><p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Dueling Reviews<\/strong><\/p><p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/smitten-top-pick-banner-1-2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"296\" height=\"72\" \/><\/p><p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\"><strong>Tropes:<\/strong> \u00a0<em>Road Trip, Forced Proximity, Class Difference, Working Heroine<\/em><\/p><p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\"><strong>Miss Evelyn Graves<\/strong> works as personal secretary to the Countess of Waverly. \u00a0She is sent in her employer's stead to Ballymore Castle in Connemara, Ireland, believing that she would be assisting with planning a fundraiser for an equestrian society. \u00a0But little does Evie know that the aunt of her host - <strong>Alexander Pierpont, Duke of Rennick<\/strong> - is scheming to marry Alex to the countess!<\/p><p>This is the third book in the <em>Love on Holiday<\/em> series. It stands alone and is only connected to the others by theme. \u00a0Just like the previous stories, this book was low angst with warm-fuzzy feels. \u00a0These characters met by chance once before, so there is already an attraction between them. \u00a0The previous Duke's will states that Alex must marry in a certain time period, otherwise his mother's unentailed family property will pass to his uncle. \u00a0His pushy (but not mean-spirited) aunt is not happy to receive Evie instead of her employer, but Alex's siblings join in the family mix and can see Evie and Alex's connection. \u00a0<\/p><p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\">I've found this entire series to be so enjoyable...perfect for beach reading or curling up on a lazy day.\u00a0 This book would be great for fans of<strong> Julia Quinn, Cathy Maxwell,<\/strong> and <strong>Charis Michaels<\/strong>.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>~ Leslie<\/em><\/p><p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/3-hearts-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"135\" height=\"44\" \/><\/p><blockquote><p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\"><em>\u201cThe memory of the man she\u2019d met in the garden and her experience with the one who\u2019d locked her in his study with him were so incongruent that she still couldn\u2019t merge them in her mind. The two versions of the duke were like mismatched puzzle pieces. Or perhaps she was just too weary to put all the aspects of the distractingly handsome man together in her mind.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote><p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\"><strong>Miss Evelyn Graves<\/strong> works as a personal secretary for the Countess of Waverley. She is sent to Ireland to assist the <strong>Duke of Rennick<\/strong> with a charity function in place of the countess, but what she doesn\u2019t know is that his scheming aunt is planning on matchmaking the countess and <strong>Alexander<\/strong>. Everyone is shocked when Evelyn shows up in her place, especially Alexander, after they had a chance meeting months ago that he can\u2019t stop thinking about.<\/p><p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\"><strong>Christy Carlyle\u2019s<\/strong> <em>Love on Holiday<\/em> series is extremely low angst, and I think when I read this that maybe I wasn\u2019t in the mood for it. If something is low angst, there isn\u2019t much to push the plot forward, and that can make the story drag on and on. This did just that. She tried to add some plot devices like Alexander\u2019s money issues and a scheming uncle, but neither was developed enough to frankly contribute anything to the story. They felt more like an afterthought. I also think there wasn\u2019t much truly keeping Alexander and Evelyn from being together by the end. I expected more internal conflict from Alexander about his money struggles and her being a poor secretary, and how his home was at risk due to his lack of funds. I expected to see him fighting his desire for her much more than he did.<\/p><p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\">At the end, they decide that love is more important than anything else, but I struggled with that since it left me with more questions than answers. Even the epilogue left much to be desired. Overall, this one felt slower and less romantic than the first two books in the series.<\/p><p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\">If you\u2019re a fan of low-angst historical romance writers like <strong>Anna Bennett<\/strong> and<strong> Erica Ridley<\/strong> then this series may be for you.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>~ Michelle<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YNbkmk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/apple.co\/45F2kBY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">iBooks<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.barnesandnoble.com\/w\/duke-seeks-bride-christy-carlyle\/1142722398?ean=9780063054516\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">B&amp;N<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kobo.com\/us\/en\/ebook\/duke-seeks-bride\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kobo<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/books\/details\/Christy_Carlyle_Duke_Seeks_Bride?id=gyudEAAAQBAJ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Google Play<\/a><\/strong><\/p>","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30526"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30526\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30535,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30526\/revisions\/30535"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}